Iowa GOP's Joni Ernst: I've been sexually harassed in military

Joni Ernst is the Republican nominee for Senate in Iowa. (Catherine Lucey, AP)

Iowa Senate hopeful Joni Ernst said she experienced sexual harassment in the military and would support a bill to remove investigations outside of the military’s chain of command.

Ernst told Time in an interview published online Friday that she experienced “comments, passes, things like that” during her military service over the last 21 years. The GOP Senate nominee, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves, recently returned to the campaign trail after two weeks of military training.

“These were some of things where I was able to say stop and it simply stopped but there are other circumstances both for women and for men where they don’t stop and they may be afraid to report it,” Ernst told Time ahead of a speech Friday night before the Iowa Federation of Republican Women.

Ernst vowed in a campaign statement that she would support Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat, “and other Senate leaders in seeking bipartisan support for new legislation” if she wins the November election. Gillibrand’s bill to remove the military’s chain of command in sexual assault cases fell five votes short of the 60 needed to get past a filibuster.

The Iowan’s stance on investigating sex assault in the military would put her at odds with most Senate Republicans. Only 11 of the Senate’s 45 Republicans supported Gillibrand, including Chuck Grassley — Iowa’s senior senator — and Ted Cruz, who recently traveled to Iowa to campaign for Ernst.

“This legislation must ensure that sexual crimes in the military are both independently investigated and prosecuted,” Ernst said.

Ernst is locked in a tight battle for the Senate against Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley. The race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin is essentially a toss-up, according to recent public opinion polls.

If she wins the Iowa race, Ernst would be the first female combat veteran in the U.S. Senate. Ernst was a company commander in Kuwait during the start of the Iraq War in 2003-2004.